By The Rivers of Babylon...

 

"By the rivers of Babylon we sat down; there we wept when we remembered Zion."

-Psalm 137, Verse 1

 

This post isn’t about baseball.

 It’s a post about of special kind of grief, and my way of moving beyond it.

 I am a very proud graduate, Notre Dame College of Ohio, Cleveland Ohio: Bachelor of Arts.

 After 100 years of service, Notre Dame College will be closing its doors after the graduation ceremony on May 4^th.  The doors will literally be locked by the bank that is taking over the college campus.  The reason why is sordid and sad.  The closure was announced very recently, we alumn were taken by surprise. There was no communication to us or the current students about the college’s problems.

 Shame all those who had responsibility for leading the college for the past 20+ years.  Your actions showed that you were not upholding the principles  that were the original foundation of NDC. You were ethically deplorable and decidedly the opposite of what constitutes a Catholic institution.

 My four years at NDC were the most important of my life.  Even more meaningful than the Rangers winning the World Series in 2023 (see, I worked in a baseball reference).  It was more than just having a great time in college in the 1970’s – but I’m not going to lie there was plenty of that too.

 It was a smaller all women’s college when I attended (that went co-ed about 20 years ago). I lived on campus, and the group of friends I bonded with are still an active part of my life 40+ years later. More than just getting an education, it was a profoundly personal experience of acceptance, revelation, and growth that I can’t adequately put into words. 

 My dear college friends and I have remembered with great emotion our time at Notre Dame College during the past few weeks.  We will all carry our memories and hold them close, but knowing that we’ll never be able to return to the beautiful campus, classrooms and dorms leaves a deep scar.  For me, knowing that other young people will never have the opportunity to experience NDC is heartbreaking.

 I’ll go back to proselytizing about baseball in my next post.

 For now, I smile, I sob, I reminisce and I am eternally grateful for the part of my soul that is and will always be Notre Dame College of Ohio.

-- Marla, NDC Class of 1979